Clegg needs to find a way out of No Man's Land

19 September 2009

Alasdair Murray reviews the week in politics

Then there is always the imposing figure of Lord Ashdown, who not only believes in the conflict but would have been the man in charge of sorting it out had his appointment not been scuppered at the last minute by Hamid Karzai. Ashdown himself has no power of veto — but if he were to distance himself from Mr Clegg it might portray Lib Dem opposition to the war as opportunistic. Lord Ashdown is far from an interfering ex-leader — his interest is very much on faraway shores — but he still has a strong appeal to the grass-roots of the party and the public.

Yet for all these obstacles, there are signs of a better future looming for Clegg and the Lib Dems. Gordon Brown has already taken Labour to its lowest opinion poll rating since the Great War, but he may not be finished yet. The Lib Dems were, in a recent ComRes poll, three points behind Labour. Given that the party typically puts on four or five points during an election campaign, there is a great opportunity for it to force Labour into third place in the popular vote. Such a status would not be reflected in the House of Commons, as Westminster’s notoriously unfair voting system would leave them with far fewer seats than the party they bested. But they could sit in Westminster as Labour starts its civil war, and wait to welcome any defectors.

But for this golden scenario to unfold, Mr Clegg needs to make himself heard. The Lib Dem conference is perhaps the best platform he will have to do this until the next general election. All he has to do is make himself — not his ballroom-dancing deputy — the star of the show that opens in Bournemouth next week.

Alasdair Murray is director of CentreForum, the liberal think-tank.